Friday, January 7, 2011

The Latest from Boing Boing

The Latest from Boing Boing

Link to Boing Boing

Waking up without an alarm: 7+ years of living the dream

Posted: 07 Jan 2011 02:06 AM PST

599px-Flaming_June,_by_Fredrick_Lord_Leighton_(1830-1896).jpg Image: "Flaming June" by Lord Frederic Leighton (1895). via Wikimedia Commons

Since everyone is reporting on their long-term self-experimentation this week*, I thought I'd share my own major breakthrough. I strongly believe that waking yourself up with alarms is extremely bad for your health, creativity and productiveness.

I'm coming up on the 8th anniversary of my decision to eschew alarm clocks. It started when I noticed that I often awoke before my alarm went off anyway. After reading an article about ten years ago in Nature on timing the end of nocturnal sleep (PMID: 9892349), I gave alarms up in 2003 and have not looked back. I decided to try working without a net, and after some trial and error, I found what works for me. I have never overslept (a problematic word, IMHO) or missed anything important. Details after the break.

Here are the basics:

  1. • I have no clock in my bedroom.
  2. • I do not keep a watch or phone in my bedroom.
  3. • I do not have a TV or computer in my bedroom.
  4. • I use a very heavy window curtain so I can't tell what time it is.

Here is what I have found:

  1. • It forces me to get the kind of good night's sleep championed by Mark, Xeni, and Arianna Huffington.
  2. • I go to bed sooner, especially if I have something important the next morning.
  3. • I remember my dreams more often.
  4. • I feel much sharper in the mornings than I used to.
  5. • I do not need caffeine to wake up (though I do drink energy drinks throughout the day)
  6. • My skin looks better, especially around and under my eyes.

A few caveats that might affect your own results:

  1. • The biggest leap of faith was not setting an alarm before a morning flight. To this day, I still often stay up until my flight, then sleep on the plane.
  2. • I have never had any problems with insomnia, and I sleep pretty heavily.
  3. • I do use my phone's audible reminder feature throughout the day when I have a call or other obligation.
  4. • I do occasionally get a feline wakeup call, similar to the one shown here. These are on no discernible schedule.
A few friends who couldn't make the no-alarm thing work switched to those sunrise alarms and were pleased. I tried one out a few times when I was housesitting. One friend's had little bird sounds in addition to a gradually brightening light. Looking online it was probably a Good Morning Sunrise Wake-up Light Alarm Clock with Nature Sounds. She swore by it, and it was certainly not as traumatic as a beep, buzz, or heaven help us, a morning radio DJ.

I still occasionally put on this Liquid Mind: Sleep album I mentioned last year, which is very relaxing to me. Brian Eno's ambient stuff would probably do the trick, too. If you have a week where you can go to bed early, I recommend giving it a shot. The main thing is not to worry about waking up. That will let you complete your sleep cycle and leave you feeling a lot less stressed. It's like being on vacation all the time - no alarms!

* BTW, I never use bar soap, but unlike Sean and Mark, I smell like a nerdy hippie chick. A little gamey, but not revolting.

CES 2011: Your new cyberpunk mirrorshades

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 11:10 PM PST

gagashades.jpg Bearing the official imprimatur of Lady Gaga, Polaroid's GL20 sunglass camera not only takes pictures through a concealed camera, but display the saved images on OLED screens in the lenses. (Alas, the screens display outward instead of acting as a heads-up display.) (Photo:REUTERS/Steve Marcus)

CES 2011: 3D printed scuptures, comfy Yorbuds and Casio's latest graphic calculator

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 10:55 PM PST

3D printing experts Shapeways make it easy for creators to get rapidly-produced real-life physical designs shipped to their door. Dmitry Kobzar used it to recreate the cover of Cory's novel Makers, and the company had these beautiful examples on show at CES satellite event Showstoppers.

After finding that custom-molded earbuds still caused some wearers pain, Yorbuds spent more than $1m researching the optimal shape for earbud comfort. The results look weird but feel great, with two sizes in the retail box and others available for order.

Casio's Prism fx-CG10 graphing calculator, with a full-color display, USB transfer and a $130 tag, is designed to dethrone an industry standard. "Holding this up to a Texas Instruments model is like holding an iPod Touch up to a Walkman," said Casio's Mike Reiners.

CES 2011: thinnest otterbox yet; Artrage 3 and iConnectMIDI

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 10:43 PM PST

Otterbox, makers of rugged and waterproof gadget cases, today announced its first two-piece sliding case at the CES trade show in Vegas. The Reflex Case, to be available in numerous colors, is "much much stronger" than other cases of the same thickness, according to Otterbox's Jordan Vater. There's no release date yet, but it'll probably be $44.95.

Ambent Design's Uwe Maurer shows off its newly-released Artrage 3 painting software. The latest version is the first to be designed with touch-screen computers in mind, allowing artists to simulate natural media with real brushes.

Forget the blur of iPad clones and 3D televsions; this nondescript black box is the thing I'm most likely to buy so far at CES 2011. iConnectMIDI has MIDI in/out (including via USB, with one input port and two outputs) and under 10ms latency, making it easy to work iPads, iPod touches and iPhones into ae home music-making setup. Two example uses: hook up an old-school MIDI-only keyboard or an iPhone App as a control surface for Garage Band or Logic Pro or whatever.



EN-V electric car prototype devours attendees at CES 2011

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 10:40 PM PST

NOM NOM NOM. First revealed at a Shanghai trade show last year, General Motors' EN-V ("Electric Networked Vehicle") prototype was on show thie evening at ShowStoppers, a satellite event at Las Vegas's CES trade show. Only 150cm long, it manages about 25 MPH, but GM has no plans to bring it into production soon. (Photo: Heather Beschizza)

Awfully awesome dance moves

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 07:03 PM PST

Watch out, Mosh Girl and Napoleon Dynamite... a challenger appears. The world would be a better place if everyone felt as uninhibited and expressive as Happiness.

Gallery: Showtime at CES 2011

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 04:11 PM PST

Today marked the official opening of the international Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where some 100,000 attendees get an advance look at the year's new technology. Tablets and 3D televisions are the hot items this round: the former represents a final uncoupling of the traditional Microsoft-driven PC market, which the latter represents the final uncoupling of the movie and broadcast industry's sanity. Here, Imperial stormtroopers guard Panasonic's booth at CES while 20th Century Fox's Mike Dunn announces that the Star Wars trilogy and prequels will be made available on Blu-Ray in September. (Photo: REUTERS/Steve Marcus)



At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Intel's Dan Guerra shows off a new netbook from Dell, whose screen spins in its frame for rapid conversion to a different form factor. "You don't have to choose," Guerra said. "Flip from keyboard to multitouch tablet in a few seconds." (Photo: Heather Beschizza)


Tablet PCs built around Google's Android mobile operating system will be hot this year, such as this inexpensive model from Gemtek. With PC makers no longer tied closely to Microsoft and Microsoft itself extending its software to work on multiple hardware platforms such as ARM CPUs, the so-called "Wintel" era of computing is over for good. (Photo: Heather Beschizza)

Not everything at CES is as portable or tasteful as a glass tablet. Moneual's blinged-out media center PC has 4GB of RAM, a terabyte of storage, 6 channel digital audio and HDMI. A sticker points out "Color: GOLD." (Photo: Rob Beschizza)

Its Play Ball PC, however, is like something from a 1970s science fiction flick: the center ball is a remote control, and the flanking ones are speakers. "It's almost like a Wiimote," said presenter Brenda Morrison. "You control everything just by holding it." (Photo: Heather Beschizza)

Gigantic video walls overlook the show floor at CES, which fills Las Vegas' massive convention center and spills over into nearby hotels and temporary pavilions. (Photo: Rob Beschizza)

Not everything at the show is cutting-edge technology. Dreamgear's Sesame Street-themed protectors will soon be available, along with mountains of other merch designed to work with cellphones, iPads and other gadgets. (Photo: Heather Beschizza)

A worker replenishes a basket of 3D glasses at LG's expansive booth at CES. The company showed off an impressive 84" model, if one unlikely to find its way into many living rooms. (Photo: Rob Beschizza)

Panasonic and Sony have made similar committments to the 3D television revolution, but some analysts believe the fad is already passing. (Photo: Heather Beschizza)

More than 100,000 visitors attended last years' CES. Though the media is out in force, the show's focus is really on the business side. The Economist's Glenn Fleishman commented: "I always offer my condolences to colleagues who have to cover CES, because it's uncoverable, and in some ways, not entirely useful. It's a pulse of the industry, but it's not the brains of the industry." (Photo: Heather Beschizza)


Camera and imaging specialists Canon wow floorgoers with a Cirque du Soleil-style stage show, complete with baffling plot and spectacular acrobatics (Photo: Heather Beschizza)



Mandroid. (Photo: Rob Beschizza)



The Hershey Company chose CES as its venue to launch a new mini Reese's pieces candy line. "People keep asking why we're here," said one of its staffers at the booth. "But we understand our business."

Away from the bright lights and the crowds, deals are cut between retailers and suppliers. CES is a major point on the international circuit that helps distant manufacturers gain access to lucrative consumer markets in the west. (Photo: Rob Beschizza)

The Convention Center's North Hall specializes in automobile technology at CES, and is filled with souped-up classic cars and gigantic speaker systems. (Photo: Heather Beschizza)


The House of Marley launched a range of audio gear at CES, including speakers, headphones and portable boom-boxes. A portion of each sale goes to causes that the reggae legend supported. (Photo: Heather Beschizza)



Huge and hugely expensive 800mm Canon lenses lie under tempered glass at CES. (Photo: Heather Beschizza)


Some of the exhibitors prefer the press take a hands-off approach to their latest gear. (Photo: Rob Beschizza)

Elderly gentleman wants to give away reproductions of 1839 atlas

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 05:42 PM PST

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87-year-old Pete Vogelzang had reproductions made of a family heirloom, an 1839 edition of "Mitchell's School Atlas." He paid for them some time ago at his own expense, and has 350 copies remaining. He wants to give them to museums, schools and educators.

Sure would be neat if a Boing Boing reader at one such institution were to acquire one, then scan it so the whole world could access it online!

"I just want to see if I can move these things before I die," he says. "I don't want them to end up on the trash heap."

The atlas shows the world as it was just 36 years after the Louisiana Purchase, three years after the Battle of the Alamo, 11 years before California became a state and 22 years before the Civil War began. Most of the southern half of Africa was "Ethiopia, the Unexplored Region," and South Africa was the "Cape Colony." Austria took up most of eastern Europe.

Full story at the Modesto Bee, with more photos of the beautiful old book and the man who wants to preserve it. (Photo: Modesto Bee, Bartah You.)

(Via BB Submitterator, thanks Edie Howe)

Omron Digital Pocket Pedometer

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 03:26 PM PST

Omron HJ-112 Digital Pocket Pedometer.jpeg I saw that the previously reviewed pedometer was unrecommended and thought I would recommend this one made by Omron. This pedometer is nice as it stores a week of data so you can see how you are doing the whole week if you wear it all the time. It is simple to clip on, and comes with an included safety leash for easy carrying. Unlike some pedometers that have reset buttons that can get pushed inadvertently, I've never reset this one by mistake. The Omron also keeps track of aerobic steps and calories. I accidentally put mine through the washer and then dried it with a hair dryer and found that it still worked and remains a durable step tracker. -- Audrey Watson Omron HJ-112 Pedometer $22 Comment on this at Cool Tools. Or, submit a tool!

Former CIA officer charged with leaking info to NYT's Risen

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 03:10 PM PST

Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer, has been charged with leaking information to New York Times reporter James Risen. While the Justice Department document doesn't state the nature of the leak, it is presumed to relate to Risen's book "State of War," which covers the CIA's covert spy war with Iran. Romenesko, AP.

Man Eater sex toy: offer of a product review sample

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 01:58 PM PST

maneater001.jpg
Today, I received the following email from Mae Schultz, marketing campaign manager of Good Vibrations.
Hi Mark,

Would you be interested in reviewing Good Vibrations newest male sex toy the "Man Eater from Outer Space"? Feel free to write whatever you'd like about it, I'd be happy to send you a sample.

Have a great day,
Mae

Man Eaters From Outer Space Waterproof Vibrator: $29.00


Organic chemistry is made of cats

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 01:30 PM PST

Organic chemistry is made of cats. Yes, just like the Internet!

Face blindness research at University of Minnesota in Minneapolis

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 02:02 PM PST

[Video Link] Researchers at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis are working with children who have face blindness (prosopagnosia) to try to come up with ways to treat people who have difficulty recognizing and distinguishing between faces. According to the researchers in this video face blindness affects 1 to 2% of all children.

In the video [Link] below Dr. Oliver Sacks talks about his own experiences as a person with prosopagnosia. (If you ask me, Dr. Sacks and the bearded researcher in the video above look a lot alike!)



Bird expert: Don't worry too much about the Deadbirdpocalypse

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 01:25 PM PST

deadbird.jpg

I've been holding back on writing anything here about the spate of reports concerning mass bird die-offs in the United States and around the world. Frankly, this story reeks, to me, of the sort of "unexplained phenomenon" that later turns out—with much less fanfare—to have an extremely mundane explanation. It's making headlines now, but I would be surprised if this is important to anyone within a few months (except a few conspiracy theorists, and the publishers of books about ostensibly unexplained phenomena).

Smithsonian Institution bird curator Gary Graves apparently has a similar perspective. He doesn't think these bird deaths are a sign of anything nefarious—or, at least, nothing more nefarious than local people taking it upon themselves to stress out a large roost of "nuisance" birds until it flies away. There's a head count associated with that kind of thing, he says, and it's not particularly odd to see a few thousand birds die this way. But, with roosts numbering in the millions of birds, that's not a large percentage lost. The only thing different in this case, he says, is that the dead birds landed on lawns, rather than in the wilderness.

But what about multiple bird kills happening in various locations? According to Graves, this is one of those times where the human brain's penchant for pattern-finding has gone a little haywire. Mass bird deaths aren't uncommon. There's a lot of reasons why they happen. Once we're primed to pay attention, we start to see them everywhere. But it doesn't mean those incidents are connected—any more than a double homicide in Arkansas is likely to be connected to a double homicide that happens the same week in Louisiana. We could be seeing a pattern, sure. But the chances aren't real high. Remember the large fish kill that happened in Louisiana last summer? Everybody speculated the oil spill was to blame. In reality, it was a natural occurrence, caused by fish getting trapped in low-oxygen tidal pools.

And, honestly, looking at the reported cases, I'm not sure I even see much of a pattern, at all. Let me explain ...


If you look at the Google map Xeni posted earlier today, you'll see that most of the mass animal deaths marked aren't blackbirds. They aren't even mostly birds*. Here are the bird deaths marked:

&bull:Texas, number of birds not given—just "a large number": Texas Park and Wildlife officials say there are always dead birds on this particular bridge, probably because they get spooked by predators and then fly, in a group, into the path of cars.
&bull:Sweden, 50 to 100 jackdaws: No known cause, but experts think the birds were probably weak from overwintering, and, after being startled by fireworks, flew into traffic. Remember, this is 50 or 100 birds out of a flock that would probably have numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

•Kentucky, "dozens" of dead birds: In this case, nobody saw the dead birds except the woman whose yard they landed in. She cleaned them up and, by her own admission, thought nothing of them until reports about the Arkansas die off scared her.

Then, you have the widely reported cases—5000+ in Arkansas and 500+ in Louisiana. And that's it.

The birds aren't all the same species. Other than the Arkansas case, they aren't dying very high numbers, relative to the likely size of the flocks they came from—and Gary Graves isn't even especially concerned about the size of the Arkansas die-off. One of the cases isn't new, but rather something that happens regularly in the place it was reported. Another was pretty much just anecdotal. This doesn't scare me. And it shouldn't scare you.

Have there been incidents where pollution, manufacturing, warfare, or some other scary human activity has caused a mass die-off of animals? Sure. But just because that has happened, it doesn't mean it's any more likely to be happening now. Or any more unlikely, for that matter. This is what I was talking about a couple of days ago with meta-cognition. You can't just look at what's happened before, compare it to current events, and say, "This MUST be it!"

You have to look at the specific situation. And, in this case, once I'd seen the details, and once I'd read a little about the behavior and size of bird flocks, this stories no longer seemed weird, and they no longer seemed linked. I could be wrong. And you're welcome to be smug if it turns out that I am wrong. But I really don't think we have a budding catastrophe, of any sort, on our hands.

Here's what I've learned from a childhood spent reading Time/Life books about "unexplainable" phenomena: A mystery that's only mysterious if you ignore the details isn't much of a mystery.

*We can get into fish kills some other time. The birds are being played as a big deal right now, so I wanted to address that alone.

Image: Some rights reserved by irrational_cat.

From drink to drive: Four Loko recycled as ethanol

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 01:05 PM PST

Salon reports that truckloads of the caffeinated alchoholic beverage Four Loko are being converted into ethanol fuel after the FDA's warning the beverage is dangerous and causes users to become "wide-awake drunk."

Don Shank's iPad paintings

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 12:40 PM PST

shank-ipad.jpg I'm a huge admirer of Don Shank's art. Recently on his blog he posted some paintings he made using his iPad.
Above are a handful of paintings I did on my iPad with the Brushes app for iPad. I love this app. Yes, I've tried Sketchbook Pro, I like it fine, it's a great app, but I'm drawn more to the simple directness of Brushes. It's a pleasure to use. (Though there are a few things I wish it had (Saturation Slider please!))

Also, one of the coolest things is you can play back your painting right there on the iPad and watch as it re-creates itself. Even better you can email yourself the "actions" file for the painting to your computer and using the free Brushes Viewer application it can re-render the image up to 6x high and wide (that's 4608pixels by 6144 pixels!) The images here on my blog were shrunk down from that size to 2000 x 1500. It will export Quicktime movies too, I'll post some movies in the future.

If you like Shank's art, I recommend The Ancient Book of Sex and Science, which features Shank's work along with three other gifted animation artists: Nate Wragg, Scott Morse, and Lou Romano.

Don Shank's iPad paintings



Sad John Boehner and Sad Don Draper (Update: by popular demand, now with Sad Glenn Beck, Tiny Sad Keanu, Sad James Van Der Beek)

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 01:39 PM PST

sadkeanudraperboehnerbeckvanderbeek.jpg

UPDATE: By popular demand, Sad James Van Der Beek, shocked cat and Sad Keanu are now in attendance (you're welcome, @brianstovall, @andrea_ball, and all else who chimed in).

Additional sad guys one might Photoshop in: Sad Julian Assange, Sad Adrian Brody, Sad Nic Cage, Sad Leave Britney Alone Guy, and Crying Double Rainbow Guy.

Below, earlier iterations with fewer Sad Guys.

(shoop: Xeni)

sadboehmer.jpg



glenboehnerdraper.jpg

India: Holy Hobos (photo gallery)

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 11:19 AM PST

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A Hindu ascetic woman adjusts her hair after taking a dip in the Ganges river in Kolkata January 4, 2011. Hindu ascetics and pilgrims are making the annual trip to Sagar island for a holy dip, at the confluence of the Ganges river and the Bay of Bengal, during the one-day festival of "Makar Sankranti" on January 14.
(REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri)

More photographs of sadhus and wandering mystics follow.

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Sadhus, or Hindu holy men, cook their food on the banks of the Ganges river in Kolkata January 4, 2011.
(REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri)

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A Hindu ascetic woman smiles as she adjusts her hair after taking a dip in the Ganges river in Kolkata January 4, 2011.
(REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri)



005.jpg

An ascetic, or sadhu, stands near the confluence of the Ganges River and the Bay of Bengal at Sagar Island, 150 km (95 miles) south of Calcutta, January 13, 2005.
(REUTERS/Jayanta Shaw)



004.jpg


A Hindu ascetic smokes from a "chillum", or earthen pot, at Kamakhya temple during a four-day long annual "Ambubachi festival" in Guwahati, in India's northeastern state of Assam, June 23, 2010.
(REUTERS/Utpal Baruah)

San Francisco: Kal Spelletich machine/robot performance this Saturday

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 11:14 AM PST

Machine/robotics performance artist Kal Spelletich will conduct a show of "live audience experiments" in San Francisco this Saturday, January 8, from 8pm until midnight. Kal's work pushes the boundaries of human/machine interaction to their breaking point. I've gotten too friendly with his machines on several occasions and was simultaneously terrified, empowered, and ovewhelmed. Seen here is a piece called "Monkey On Your Back:"
2011 01 2-Monkey-On-Your-Back-1 Volunteer wears a backpack with a robot on it. There are flex sensors and an EKG (sensing your heartbeat) in and on gloves the volunteer wears. By manipulating the gloves and moving with the backpack on, the robot on your backpack responds. The EKG inside the gloves picks up a signal from your heart turning on and off a tail and spine on the monkey backpack. Two tilt sensors activate two arms near your shoulders. The flex sensors in the gloves allow two arms with articulated hands to lift up, reach in and out and opening and closing the hands.
Kaltek robotics/machine performance on 1/8/11



Google Map of recent mass animal die-offs

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 11:05 AM PST

Screen-shot-2011-01-06-at-10.55.jpg

Link.

(Via Submitterator, thanks Lobster)

Israeli vulture "accused" of being a spy

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 10:51 AM PST

Saudi Arabian security has apparently "detained" a Griffon Vulture they noticed was outfitted with a GPS transmitter. Why? The device bore a Tel Aviv University label prompting concern that the bird was a surveillance device, according to the BBC citing Israel's Ma'ariv newspaper. The BBC article does not include a response from the Saudis. From the BBC:
Wikipedia Commons 4 4E Eagle Beak Sideview A "The device does nothing more than receive and store basic data about the bird's whereabouts, and about his altitude and speed," a bird specialist at Israel's Park and Nature Authority told the newspaper.

The data would be used to improve understanding of the endangered species' behaviour.

"Now, this poor bird is paying a terrible price. That's very sad," said the unnamed expert...

In December, the governor of Egypt's South Sinai province, Mohamed Abdul Fadil Shousha, suggested the spy agency may have had a hand in a string of deadly shark attacks off the coast of the Sharm el-Sheikh resort.

He said it was "not out of the question" that Mossad had put the killer shark in the area.

"Saudi Arabia 'detains' Israeli vulture for spying"



In Congo, mass rape on New Year's Day

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 10:44 AM PST

250px-Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo_(orthographic_projection).svg.png

Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF) reports that workers at the international emergency medical aid organization treated victims of mass rape on New Year's Day in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The group treated 33 women who were raped in the village of Fizi, South Kivu.

According to the United Nations, rape is often used as a weapon of war here. Some 15,000 women were raped in the eastern portion of the country in 2009, and the UN has named the DRC "rape capital of the world." Often during this type of assault, the victim's children or spouse are forced to watch.

Details from the organization follow.

The women were raped on the night of 1st January in Fizi town and surroundings in a coordinated attack. MSF medical teams treated 14 women at the hospital in Fizi on 3rd January, and 19 the next day. In addition, two severely wounded people were transferred to Baraka Hospital, one with serious head injuries after being beaten with a rock, the other having been shot in the chest.

"Women had been restrained with ropes or beaten unconscious with the butt of a gun before being attacked, some in front of their children." said Annemarie Loof, MSF head of mission in South Kivu. "Up to four armed men were involved at a time and homes and shops were looted."

MSF provides specialised medical care to women and girls who have been raped, including post-exposure prophylaxis, which protects against the HIV virus and other sexually transmitted infections. Many women are afraid to seek treatment because of fear of being stigmatised by their families, or the risk of further harassment by armed groups.

"MSF is extremely concerned about the current situation in and around Fizi. People are fleeing the area fearing further violent attacks" said Loof.

In 2009 alone, MSF provided medical and psychosocial care for 5,600 rape victims in North and South Kivu.

Saturday Night Live's classic parody of Dateline's Keith Morrison

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 10:29 AM PST


I must have watched Bill Hader's 2008 and 2009 SNL parodies of Dateline's Keith Morrison more than a dozen times this week. Do I get some sort of strange delight in all this? I do... (Thanks, Rick Pescovitz!)

Another one after the jump. Apologies if you can't watch them outside the US.



A true tale of totalitarian eroticism: an unforgettable fall day with comrade Kim Il-Sung

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 10:19 AM PST

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Translated from "Korea" magazine, No. 346, 1985:

This happened in early November 1973. I drove a tractor with a trailer loaded with rice sheaves, and I had the honor of meeting Our Beloved Leader, Comrade Kim Il-sung, on the road. I pined for him in my dreams. Our Beloved Leader warmly shook my hand smeared with machine oil, and praised me by saying that a young girl like me works so hard. He inspected the engine, the cab, and the gearbox of my tractor, and gently asked how many sheaves are loaded on the trailer. ... Our Beloved Leader looked at me for a minute, and asked in his hoarse voice, "So, if you drove the tractor until 12, do your hands hurt now?" After that, he stroked my palm and hand, and rolled up the sleeve of my robe to feel for the thickness of my wrist.
The Great Love

Skeleton photography

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 10:00 AM PST

Boing Mole Uncovered in LIFE's archives by our pal Ben Cosgrove, a gallery of breathtaking skeleton photography from 1951 by Andreas Feininger. Above, a mole. "Lovely, Beastly Bones"

Comic book pinbacks

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 09:39 AM PST

Pb-O1Yt5Eyg Trlwqnux2Ri Aaaaaaabk4Q Cop4Bgqfzwu S1600 22 Bushmiller Society Pb-O1Yt5Eyg Trlxfvtrh9I Aaaaaaabk5O Uehxtsa4O3A S1600 11 Spysmasher 1940S
Golden Age Comic Book Stories posted a nice gallery of comix-related pinbacks from the 1930s-1990s. And there are hundreds more to see at Mark Lansdown's Comic Pinback Website, focused on specimens from the 1890s to the 1950s. (via SheWalksSoftly, thanks Stacey Ransom!)

Sara Felder's play Out Of Sight

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 09:27 AM PST

"Only in San Francisco" was the spot-on subject line in the email that Greg Long sent pointing me to this new one-woman show opening next week:
Felderrr Solo theater artist and trickster, Sara Felder, invites you into the story of a nearly-blind mother and her lesbian daughter who try to "see" each other as they navigate their different perspectives on Israel. With her mix of circus tricks, shadow puppets and a Jewish queer sensibility, Felder sets out to balance family loyalty, social justice and juicy lemons.
Sarah Felder's Out Of Sight

Star Magazine: 1973 glam scene teen mag

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 10:31 AM PST

Images Starmag1 Images Star222Mag
In 1973 Los Angeles, the glam scene was glittering and Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco on the Sunset Strip was where it was happening in the US. Looking to cash-in on the foxy/groupie scene, Petersen Publishing launched Star magazine for teenage girls. Writing in CREEM, rock critic Dave Marsh said that Star presented the English Disco girls as "the prototype of the chic teenage female." Reportedly under pressure from uptight parents, only five issues were printed and copies remain extremely rare. Fortunately, Ryan Richardson is putting all of the issues online in their entirety. Can you dig it? I knew that you could. Check them out at Star 1973(and a bit more Star history at "70s Invasion"). (Thanks, Koshi!)
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